New Enemies, New Allies
by Bookworm1978
Summary: Goliath and his clan were on a simple patrol. They split up to cover more ground, when Hudson and Lex stumbled on to a strange sight. But are they friends? Or Enemies? Wahoo! Part two is finished! Now things will get interesting...I hope. Let me know what you think so far. Do you want another turtle story up first? Or a story of the villains in the New your series? Let me know.
1. Prologue: Previously on Consiquences

Author's note: Yeah, I said forget it. The silly Fanfiction site won't let it look the way I wanted, so I just put the chat back and will leave it like that. Waah! I really wanted it to start like a real gargoyles episode too! Ahem, back to being a mature writer...

TecknoBat: Know? Where did you go? Brother still giving you a hard time? Tell him to back off, LOL! Before he has to deal with me and MY bros!

KnowiTall: Who are you?

TecknoBat: Um, who are you? IS this Know? Party? Red?

KnowiTall: One of know's brothers. Who are you? What do you know about us?

TecknoBat: well, it's not Party, anyway…

KnowiTall: Party? Who's that?

TecknoBat: Come on, they are your brothers! The goofy one.

KnowiTall: Oh. That's M…right, Okay.

KnowiTall: Yeah, it's not Party. I don't chat much.

TecknoBat: Yeah…Yeah I can tell.

TechnoBat: Is know off-line?

KnowiTall: Yeah. He might be away for a while…

TecknoBat: Well, thanks for letting me know. Was there a fight? He was telling me that there was some tensions going on a little while ago.

KnowiTall: Yeah. It was pretty bad, actually. He went to cool off.

TecknoBat: Bummer. Which one are you anyway? Just curious.

KnowiTall: Before I answer, I need to know what you know about us. For…security reasons.

TecknoBat: Security…oh, hi, welcome back from the trip. Um, I don't know that much really. We don't talk RL much. I know that you guys have a single dad. That there are four boys. You, who is the oldest, There is a hotheaded middle brother. And the youngest, PartyAnimal, is really fun and goofy.

KnowiTall: Did you chat with any of them before? Wait, um, what is RL? Is that even a word?

KnowiTall: How did you even know who I was?

TecknoBat: Um…give me a minute. Did I ever chat with any of them? Yeah. Party Animal. He's cool. RL? Um, that means Real Life? What cave did you live in? How did I know who you were? Duh! Both Know and Party both said that you are very protective. So when you start grilling me the way my-well, father would have, I knew right away.

KnowiTall: Oh.

TecknoBat: Hey, it's cool. I get it. Know and I don't chat much about RL. We talk mechanics, physics. That kind of thing. He did tell me he don't have many people to talk to, that nobody else gets him at home. We don't talk much about anything else, because, well, each of us have our issues in our RL…er, real life so far.

KnowiTall: You are, or anyway seem to be, a transparent person, aren't you?

TecknoBat: Yeah, guess so. It's cool. GTG. Oh, wait, Got to go. Time to hang with my own family.

KnowiTall: Okay. Well, good luck with that. Good Night.

TecknoBat: Good night.

TecknoBat: Logged off

KnowiTall: Logged off

Meanwhile, in another part of the city….

Someone else had just logged off. He stood and stretched, before putting a battered old laptop away, on an equally battered old desk. Just in time, too.

"Where are you, Lex?"

"Over here."

With a sigh, the young gargoyle went out onto the balcony to join his clan.

"Did you enjoy your computer chatting?" Broadway, asked with a grin, as he glanced down to his smallest brother.

"It was okay, but I think my friend was in a bit of a fight or something."

"That seems to be the nature of humans." Growled the tall figure known as Golioth, as he came out to join them. He looked out over the horizon. "And now, our patrol!"

Without a word, one after another jumped over the edge, to glide away into the night, heeding the call to the duty bred into every gargoyle soul. To protect and keep the home safe. The home of New York. To protect it from all the dangers that threaten it and their tiny clan. From the dangers both outside, and within.


	2. Patrol, part one

An hour later, the clan had split up to cover more ground. Brooklyn and Broadway teamed up, heading north. Goliath went on his own, planning to meet up with Elisia. That left Lexington teamed up with Hutson. Always an interesting pairing, Hutson found himself musing as he pointed eastward. Lex nodded wordlessly, not seeing a reason to argue. Quickly and quietly, they once more took to the air.

They continued to glide silently and swiftly. Hutson wanted to hurry through patrol and head back to the clock tower. There was a movie he was hoping to catch that would start soon. He, however, saw no reason to become sloppy. After all, it was not in a gargoyle's nature to give less than their all when protecting their homes, or in anything that they are passionate about, to be honest. But, in all fairness, his old bones ached with more than their usual wont, with the approach of a coming storm, and his thoughts lingered longingly to shelter and soft, comfy recliners.

His young companion seemed grateful for the quiet, Hutson noted wryly. Lex seemed lost in his own thoughts. He wondered what the hatchling had on his mind that was so absorbing. Was it something to do with that, um chattering?

The sound of screaming somewhere below them came as a welcome distraction to him. The two landed on a rooftop and looked around for the source of the disturbance. Hutson growled low when he saw the familiar black coat, the white beard. "Macbeth.."

He fingered his sword as though itching to draw it. But he hadn't lived as long as he did without a good deal of common sense. That sense told him to look at the situation before leaping in.

Lex was hopping from side to side nearby, as nervous and excited as a bloodhound on the scent of a particularly dangerous but choice prey. Macbeth, who was below them in a darkened alley, had his sword out, and was using it to defend himself against some of the strangest warriors the old gargoyle had ever set eyes on. To be fair, ever since he and his clan had awaken, they all had seen a fair few strange sights like this. Other than Macbeth, almost none of them had much to do with the style of fighting Hutson was used to seeing all his life. Many of the new warriors used strange devices that shot out metal, what Lisa called guns, and flashes of light called , no, even Macbeth used them, though his fighting style seems more like what the gargoyles themselves employed.

The warriors before him fought with swords, and staffs, much like what he was used to...but very differently. The weapons themselves were strange things, more sensuous and smaller than the like of the viking and saxon clans. The way they fought was different as well. If he had to guess, he would say that they relied more or finesse and balance, far less on brute strength. Strange…

And the strangest of all was that Macbeth, who Hutson had to admit begrudgingly to himself, is an excellent warrior of the old school. But he was only just managing to hold his own against these black clad strangers. Granted, he was seriously out-numbered at about twenty to one, but still…

Then a flash of something caught his eye further away, to where another ally joined this one. A flash of movement.

Les, who looked eager to jump into the fray, paused as Hutson rubbed his beard thoughtfully. "What is it?"

"I thought I saw something move in that dark passageway." Hutson said, pointing.

"Oh, the alley." Lex nodded with a glance in that direction. "Maybe it was just some rat?"

"Maybe. But I could have sworn it was bigger...there! There it was again."

Lex stared hard in that direction again. But his attention kept getting distracted by Macbeth. "Sorry, don't see anyone. I don't know which one I should root for. Macbeth, or the guys in the black pajamas."

"Be serious!"

"I am being serious. You know old shakespeare down there never had much compassion for us."

"True, but we show respect when it is due, even to our enemies."

"Yeah, yeah. Right."

"And that would include me."

Lex gulped at the growl in the old gargoyle's voice. "Right. Sorry, Hutson."

Hutson opened his mouth but what he was going to say was forgotten in the next instant. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the same barely perceptible movement. This time it was behind one of those metal boxes that handle trash in this world. In another instant, one of the warriors in black vanished. "What in…" He said, instead, leaning forward hastily.

"What, what did you see?" Lexington asked in the very loudest of stage whispered. Hutson put one finger to his lips, and the other he pointed at the direction the warrior vanished. at. Lex again glanced in that direction, though he seemed unable to restrain the eyeroll. Then he blinked, as another was grabbed and disappeared by the same faster than the eye could follow movement of some unseen, unheard assailant. "Woah!"

"Yes, woah is right."

"That's it! We got to see what is going on!" Lex exclaimed, jumping on the ledge. But Hutson was quick enough to grab his arm, and keep him from leaping headlong into the fray. "Wait. We need to see what's going on. And we will have no need for a battle-mad Macbeth attacking you next!"

Lex snorted, but nodded tersely. Down at street level, the soldiers in, what Lex called pajamas, continued to be picked off along the fringes by the unseen warriors, while continued to battle from the center. The combined effort seem to be swinging the tides of the battle in Macbeth's favor over the passage of time. The number was whittled to a mere ten when Hutson's vigilant watching paid off. He saw a figure emerge from the shadows of the small passageway between the buildings. It was not clear, but it was wrong. Very wrong for a human. For one thing, he was pretty sure that humans are not green. And most of them were not, well, naked.

The next second, the figure faded from sight, as it slipped behind some crates that lay closer to the center of the conflict. For a second, Hutson could have sworn he saw a second green figure after the first. BUt he blinked, and it, if it was even there at all was gone. He was so focused on trying to see if he really was seeing something or not, that he missed seeing something else. Only when Lexington, with an impatient roar, leaped over the edge, did he remember to keep an eye on the youngling. "Lexington, No!"


	3. Battle with, um, Nistas?

Without thinking about what he was doing, Hudson jumped over the ledge after the hatchling. He landed, and instinctively pulled out his sword, as a couple of the strangely-clad warriors turned to face the newcomers. Unlike Lexington, who leaped into the scuffle with all claws, as it were, Hudson took a second to observe the fighters. The ones facing him stood and stared for a long moment. Hudson had just enough time to wonder if they never seen his kind before since fabric covered the other man's face like some kind of coward. Then one of the fighters leaped at him with a spin of the strange stick on chains weapons, and Hudson moved into a defensive stance.

Meeting the charge head-on, he countered the attack. The new weapon took him for a surprise when it spun around his sword. He felt the human coward tug as though to disarm him. He smiled grimly. Points to the human for cleverness, at least. It was not his fault he never reckoned on a gargoyles strength.

The human tugged again, with no better result. Then Hudson pulled it free and smashed the hilt of his sword handle where he guessed behind the ear was. Who can tell with humans, at least the masked ones.

Lex meanwhile was not idle. "Hey, shadow man! Want to play?" He taunted, prancing about on all his limbs, eager for a good fight. "Or is ganging up on one fighter more to your style?"

The masked man made a sound like an enraged chicken and charged, swinging his weapon before him. Lex waited until he was nearly on him, then leaped up and over the charging human. The instant he landed, he swung around. His tail lashed like a whip, with enough force to sweep the legs of his opponent out from under him. Watching him fall with a hard thud, Lex winced in sympathy. "Oh, that one hurt!"

Hudson soon found himself fighting back to back with his sworn foe. It seemed the irony was not lost on Macbeth either, as the bearded human flashed the old gargoyle a rare, wry grin. "While I am not going to complain about the assistance," He said, as the two wove between blades and staves like the seasoned pros that they were. "But what caused you two to come to my aid."

"Yon youngling was eager to join the fray, I suppose," Hudson answered, as his sword clashed. "I was of no mind to let the young one have all the fun. Or inclined to explain to Goliath how he got hurt if I didn't watch his back."  
"Fair enough."

Between the efforts of the human warrior, the two gargoyles, and whoever it was in the shadows, soon the last of the masked warriors lay at their feet. "Now can you tell me how you came to be the target of such cowards?" Hudson asked, nudging one of the fallen with a clawed foot. "Well trained ones at that."  
"They are my business, old one." Macbeth said sternly. Then his expression softened slightly. "Though I owe you a debt of honor for your assistance."

Hudson nodded briefly, and the two shook.

"Look! Someone moved near that alley!" Came Lex's excited voice. "I'm sure of it."  
In one smooth motion, Macbeth spun around and threw what looked like nothing more than pebbles to Hudson. The next instant, a blinding flash bursted out of the darkness of the alley. Swearing, Hutson covered his eyes with his arm. He was not the only one caught by the surprise. Or the only one swearing. He could hear distinctly a rough voice in the passageway swearing in a way that won Hudson's grudging respect.

He heard both Macbeth and Lexington bolt toward the pathway, where the light was fading as fast as it appeared.  
"Raph, move it!" came a young-sounding voice, "We got to jet!"

"On it." Came the rough voice, and Hudson managed to see enough in time to see a cloud of smoke burst out. By the time he got there, whoever the two were was gone.

Lex looked around with frantic energy, practically sniffing like a bloodhound. Hudson could tell that he was annoyed that the mystery didn't have a chance to be solved this time. Macbeth looked around as well, though slowly and methodically, as suited his greater years and expertise.

He bent down and picked up something from the ground. A thoughtful expression was on his face. "It appears," He said at last, "that the ones helping us were ninjas as well."  
"Ninsas" Hudson repeated, puzzled at the strange word.  
"Some kind of warrior from somewhere east." Lex supplied absently as he continued his search, which now seemed to include searching the fallen. Hutson frowned at that. He had no liking for such actions, it seemed too low for a true warrior to stoop to.

"Impressive," Macbeth said, crossing his arms and eying the hyper gargoyle with an appraising expression on his stoic face. "Where did you learn about ninjas?"  
"Television."

"And the mystery is solved…"

"So these warriors, these...um, natsu seemed intent on making you pay for something," Hudson observed.  
"I told you I will not explain what happened tonight. Nor will I go into the events that led to it." Macbeth retorted, the sternness re-entering his voice and manner. "tis not for the likes of thee, beast."

"This beast could have left you to the mercies of those Natsu." Hudson retorted in a calm tone though his eyes flashed at the beast comment briefly.

"Ninja. And I could have managed them just fine."

"Yes, it sure looked like it." Lex's voice floated over, dripping with sarcasm.

"How did you come to find me anyway?"

Hudson raised an eyebrow at the abrupt change in tone of their old foe. "If you are not going to be open with us." He said, crossing his arms in turn, "Why should we?"

This earned him one of those small, wry smiles. "Touche."

"Perhaps we can leave the past behind our teeth this one time," Hudson said though his curiosity ate away at him. "And focus on what happened tonight. Do you know anything about these men?"

"I do," Macbeth answered stiffly, nodding in agreement at the statement before the question.  
"Could you tell me more about these Nitsu? So we can be better prepared in case they attack us now? I don't think whoever leads them will take kindly to our knocking them about like training dummies."  
"Honestly, I am surprised you have not had a run-in with them earlier. They been in this city for years."  
"We must have been lucky, I suppose."

"Indeed."

Macbeth seemed to mull over the request for a moment, then nodded tersely. "I can do that much. Though maybe you should ask your television scholar for some of the info?" He added with a glance at Lexington, who was behind a metal box, and didn't seem to hear the sarcastic taunt. Just as well.

"The ninjas…" Macbeth continued after a moment's pause, "or at least the ones I know of in this city, is run by a ruthless leader who call himself the Shredder. He had asked me to do some job for him, and I turned him down."  
"Hmm, what was wrong? He didn't offer to pay enough blood money?"

"That was not the issue, surprisingly enough." With an odd lack of reaction to Hudson's taunt about the blood money. "I won't go into detail, but service it to say, there are some jobs even I would not take."  
"News to us." Came Lex's voice from behind the metal box he was hidden behind.

"Quiet youth! I'll teach you some respect." Macbeth growled.

"I would rather you leave me to instruct our young, thank you." Hudson's tone was dry enough to create a desert.

"Then do a better job."

Hudson ignored that.

He watched Macbeth take a deep, calming breath. "what you should know about them, is they are masters of stealth. they will not face you openly, but attack from behind, if they can."  
Aye, I can see they are cowards." Hudson nodded.

"Not cowards, assassins."  
"That is but another name for the same thing, in my mind."

"Regardless, they will not respect your stone sleep. That is the first thing you must know. If they know you are that statue beside them they will smash you."

"Oh great. Something to help me sleep better a night." Hudson sighed.  
"It gets better, their leader is a madman, driven to destroy some enemy of his. I have never seens such obsession, save in that demon of yours."  
"Demona is nothing of ours, you know that!"

"Regardless, be on your guard." Macbeth started walking away. Before he turned the corner that would have taken him away from their sight, he turned back once more. "One final tip. Stay away from the TCRI building. Strange things are going on there. Had been for years, from what I heard, but until recently, it had been quiet for a while."

Hudson watched him vanish and shook his head. Why did Macbeth always have to try to leave with a flourish?

"Is that creep gone?" Lex said, coming out from behind the metal box.

"Aye, and twas cowardly for you to hide so."  
"I wasn't hiding! I was investigating. Like Lisa!"

"What did you find?"

Lex held out a hand, where several small fragments of white was visible on his palm. White bits that looked oddly familiar. "I don't understand why, but I think I found some eggshells."


	4. A Meeting, and a chat

"Yup, there were egg shell fragments, all right," Lisa Masa, detective for the NYPD and currently best friend to an unlikely band of protector said, dropping a folder on the kitchen table a few days later. "But the boys at the lab found some kind of residue of flash powder all over them. Forensics thinks they are some kind of homemade smoke bombs."

"Really carefully made smoke bombs." Lex marveled, as he glanced over the table to eye them with admiration. "Do you realize how much work it would take just to get the yoke out and the powder in?"

"How did you get them to look at them without giving us away?" Goliath asked, picking up the folder with a mind for his claws.

"Oh, simple. I told them these were found at recent robberies. They already suspected something of this kind from some strange break-ins and the like from a few years ago."

"What can you tell us about what happened those two years ago?" Goliath asked, with a raised eye ridge.

"Not much. I was on another case at the time, trying to prove I was detective material. But I did a little digging. It seemed as though there was a whole lot of chaos, what with the two invasions of those brain things and all, and that got rid of a lot of the info. But some of the activity could have been pinned onto the purple dragons."

"Purple dragons?"

"Some gang that was big back then. I found out they are still active, but a new leader is running them. Don't know anything else about them. Though what files I could find of them said they weren't that bright."

"What else is new." Brooklyn rolled his eyes, as he listened. "I'm starting to think gangs require an I.Q. max to join."  
"Oh, look who pays attention to my psych lectures." Lex teased.

Brooklyn growled and shoved Lexington away from him.

"What was the cause of the other activity?" Goliath asked, giving the two younger Gargoyles a stern look as if to tell them to focus.

"Well, that's when it starts getting really dicey. There is proof of ninja activity all over the city, but it is not clear if it was all from the same group or different groups. We can't even tell if they were in conflict if there was more than one, or working together. Later, they closed the case, thinking it was some earlier activity of a notorious vigilante by the name of Nightwatcher. He in turned vanished a few months ago."

Lex trailed away from the table, with a bored expression on his face, and drifted over to where Broadway was typing away at the laptop a ways away. "what are you doing?"

"Chatting."

"Hey, is that PartyAnimal?"

"Yup."

"Huh, say hi for me." 

"Will do."

"What are you chatting about, anyway?"  
"We agreed to meet to...dang typos. I wish you can make a keyboard that is claw-friendly.."

"Working on it, working on it. What are you guys talking about already?"

"Well, just to swap recipes. I want to update our meal options." Broadway said, with a quiet little smile of pride. "He got some good ones and liked my bread one."  
"you mean that one from back in the day?"  
"Yup." Broadway frowned as he read some lines. Brooklin had drifted over to the other two by that time and was using his height to great advantage by looking over Broad's shoulders to read what was on the screen. Lex growled and glanced over at the red gargoyle with a look of pure envy.

"Not sure about this one, though," Broadway said a few minutes later, tapping the screen gently.

"Not sure about what?" Brooklin and Lex asked at the same time, then stared at each other in surprise.  
"Well, this recipe Party just sent. He calls it, well, a P-Shake?"

Lex quickly covered his mouth with both hands, while even Brooklin turned a little green. "Humans are disgusting." He said, with a sour expression on his face.

"I can't think of anything that could possibly sound less appealing," Lex added with a groan.

"Well, there is haggis."  
"Keep talking like that, and I'll hurl all over you."

"Can I watch?" Brooklyn asked sarcastically.

"Ha, ha. You're so very funny."

"I try," Brooklyn answered with a smirk. Then he grew more serious. "How do you two know this clown, anyway? Don't you know him?"  
"Oh, Party's an online friend," Lex answered since Broadway was reading again and didn't seem to hear the question.

"Okay, so that is definitely a no. Personally, I rather keep it that..."

"Ha." Broadway broke in. Party just admitted that the P-Shake is still in the works."  
"Stop saying that name!" Lex pleaded, but the other two ignored him.

"He said he called it that because he was trying to combine pizza and milkshakes. He says that he now is starting to think that maybe he should give it up."  
"He should burn it."

"Brook, that was not nice." Broadway retorted as Lex drifted away with a sick look on his face, and his hand on his stomach. "I agree, but still."


	5. A quiet evening at the clocktower

"Hey, guys! I found something interesting about the ninja activities from this article on…" Lisa's voice faded as she looked around the mostly deserted clock tower, new home for the strangest of her strange friends. "Um, where is everyone?" She asked, glancing over at the makeshift kitchen area, where she saw Broadway rooting around with an air of relief. "Even Hudson is out?"

"Um, yeah, actually." was Broadway's somewhat distracted reply. "He took Bronx out early for a walk. Said he's getting fat just laying around here so much." Broadway grinned as he dumped some stuff in a stockpot and started stirring. "Bronx isn't the only one, either. Like Hudson has any room to talk." He added wryly.

"Such disrespect for your elders, laddie." Lisa gamely tried to sound like the oldest gargoyle and failed completely. Her attempt was enough to get a chuckle out of the most easygoing of the clan. "Be nice." She added in a gentle chide. "This world is a lot to take in after all. Where are the others?"

:Goliath said he was headed to the library at that cloister place or something like that. Lex is scrounging at a junkyard, said he heard some of his online friends do that to find electronics or something. Know, I think it was. Brooklin is….well, you know I think the only thing he said was he's headed out, to be honest. You know how he can be sometimes. But he said he won't be out long, so I expect him back any minute now."

"What are you making?"  
"Soup."

Lisa wrinkled up her nose and eyed the pot warily. "Did you get the recipe from Party?"  
Broadway frowned in thought then shook his head. "No, don't think so. From another online friend. Said he makes it sometimes after a hard day at work."

"What does he does do?"

"Said something about being in construction working for his dad or something."  
"What's his handle?" she asked as she walked over to the heavy gargoyle to peer into the pot and sniff warily. The sniff turned into a sigh of appreciation. The soup was starting to smell rather good. and she said as much.

"Your welcome to stay and have some. Split pea and ham. Just," he added with a slightly crooked smile. "Don't ask where the ham came from."  
"Don't worry, I won't bust you for that. Considering you can't exactly walk into a store."  
"Don't worry, we did pay for it!"

"How did you manage that?"  
"Left three or four bags of cans."  
"So that is what that case was about…" Lisa mumbled as she walked away to hide a smirk.

"I think I will." She added once she was sure of her voice again, that she wasn't going to laugh in his face. "But don't invite me too often. If it tastes as good as it smells, then I'll need to get a bigger pair of jeans."

Broadway laughed, and deftly added pepper. Lisa sat in front of the old laptop that looked like it survived a war or two. Then raised an eyebrow and turned back to Broad. "You didn't tell me your friend's handle."  
"Oh, sorry. Should be the one on the screen."  
Lisa looked at the screen again, her brows lowering in thought as she concentrated. "Is this your friend's list?  
"Yeah, why?"  
"You have at least thirty names here!"

"Yeah? So?"  
"So I don't have those many online friends!"

"Well, yeah, but you have more...you know, face-to-face friends."  
"...True enough. Which one is the one that gave you that recipe?"  
"Should be the one chat box."

"Which chat box?"

"Huh?" Broadway's head snapped toward her direction, with a puzzled expression on his face. "What do you mean which one? There was only one the last time I looked."

"Yeah, well now there is seven."  
"Woah, got popular while I was away, huh?" He asked, as a wry grin slowly crossed his broad features, and made his eyes twinkle.

"Yeah, I should say so. By the way, Party said hi."  
"Oh? That's nice of him." Broad said as he abandoned the soup pot to simmer while he walked over to where Lisa sat. "Oh, that one's him."

"This one?"  
"Yeah, WZArmy."

"Hmm, seems nice enough. You don't let him know a lot about you guys, do you?"  
"After that last lecture on online safety? Not a chance. Besides, if I did Goliath would gleefully take my head off my shoulders."  
"I'm sure you're exaggerating."  
"Hmm, maybe. I do have us being such a small clan working for us."

"Hmm, this WZArmy guy just sent you an article. I'll leave it for you to read. What is he like?"

"Seems pretty down-to-earth. He's one of my oldest online friends."

"Interesting…"

"Hey, that's interesting," Broad said, leaning over to point a clawed finger at the screen. "KnowiTall and PartyAnimal's on at the same time. That doesn't happen too often. Wonder if they are playing Minecraft or something?"

"Do they do that a lot? I mean are they really into that game or something?"  
"Well, no. Not excessively or nothing. I guess they play, hmm, maybe once a week? At most?"

Something like that."

"And who is this?" Lisa asked, clicking on another box. "this one challenged you to some kind of poker game on facebook."  
"Poker?" Oh, yeah. That's RaginCajin42. He's a card shark. I still don't get what that means, but someone called him that a few times. He challenged me a month ago and found out how badly I play. Which makes sense. I never played before. But it was not for real money. the game has fake money on it, I guess. He said he does it to help keep his hand in, as his school don't let them play for real."

"Sounds like a real winner…"

"Actually, he does tend to win a lot. Pretty lucky, huh?"  
"Well, some would.."She glanced at him and smiled with a knowing look. "Nevermind, I'm sure he's just lucky too."

"Hey, someone just chimed."  
Lisa glanced at the screen again. "Oh, KnowiTall wants to know…..heh, no pun intended, if Tech would be on soon. Is that Lex? Technobat?"  
"Yup, that's him."

"Do you want to answer?"  
"I would, but I got to go check on dinner. Been lollygagging enough. Um, can you answer?"  
"What else are you making?"

"Nothing complicated. Salad, dressing, rolls. Got some old bread so I'm going to make a pudding."  
"Sounds good. What do you want me to say?"  
"Tell him he's invited for pudding."  
"Lex!"  
"A joke, a joke!"

"For real this time."

"Um, tell him I don't know where he is right now but I'll send him online as soon as he gets home if Dad will let him."  
"Dad?"

"Lex's idea. Online, it's easier to hide what we are if we pretend to be a family. Lex, myself and Brook are brothers. Duh, right? And Goliath is this single father who's a cop...do not look at me that way. And we have a grandpop and his dog staying with us to help keep an eye on everyone. A single dad raising his sons with grandpop's help and the story is so close to the truth that it don't even feel like a lie."  
"Good for you." Lisa teased playfully and laughed as Broadway blushed. It was common knowledge among those who knew the gentle giant that Broadway was a terrible liar.

"Yeah, yeah."

"So what does that make me?"

"Donno. An older sister? Following in Dad's footsteps?"  
Now Lisa was grateful that her back was to Broadway, as her cheeks flamed. "I don't think that would work," she said in an off-handed manner, with a shrug, and her eyes glued to the screen. She started typing in the answer, only to have another chime sound. "Dang it! typed into a new box. Your really popular today. It's some MoldyPhysicist?"

"Oh really? He's almost never online!"  
"He said he was curious about the last chat you were part of. What chat was that?"  
"Oh, you know what? I forgot what we even talked about. Hmm, I think Lex was chatting it up with ComicKing or something, and I was there listening...well, reading. Back when Lex had that really old machine before it, you know, was dead. I think there was this guy calling himself….what was it? FuzzyDr? Something like that. And we….oh, right! They started talking heavy science stuff, and I soon didn't know one word in five. You know? Oh, and Know was there too by the way!"

"You really need to work oh your storytelling skills."  
"Hush, you!" He teased, waving a spoon around with a grand air. "I am a master storyteller!"

"Well? Get on with the story, master storyteller."  
"Hmm, where was I" Broadway paused for a moment to think as he stirred. Lisa covered her mouth with a hand to stifle the giggle fit.

"Oh, right! A lot of science stuff flew around on the screen, which I didn't really understand much. Lex was really into it, though. I do remember him telling them that he hadn't much school before coming to New York, and being homeschooled now because of a condition that makes him have to avoid the sun….funny, Know said he is the same way? Wonder what kind of condition that is?"

"Huh, small world."

"I know, right? Wouldn't it be funny if he ended up being a gargoyle too?"  
"Um...let's not take any chances."  
"I won't. Still, it would be funny."  
"true. Go on with your story."

"See, master Storytelling. Have you riveted on my every word!"  
"Broadway!"  
"Okay, okay! Geesh. Anyway, some of the others were pretty eager to point Lex to some online sources for lessons and lectures and stuff. I checked some of them out myself, but most of them were pretty boring. I wonder if he wants to follow up with that with Lex or something?"  
"No, he definitely wants to chat with you and not Lex."  
"Why? I showed next to no interest in that science stuff. Why would he want to talk to me?"  
"Give me a minute." She typed hurriedly and waited for the chime which came sooner than either of them expected.

"Hmm, says here that you made some comments about magic that he thought rather thought-provoking, and he wanted to ask a few questions for clarification. Wow, he types like Spock. He said he wants to write a paper on arcane practices and their validity."  
"Well, sure. I would love to. If I wasn't sure that Goliath wouldn't serve my head to me for dinner, for endangering the clan." Broadway said dismissively as he plopped the last roll on the pan and whisked the whole thing into the oven.

"Gargoyles seem to have a thing with decapitation."  
"Well, you know...one of our little quirks," Broadway grinned at her.

The smell of the soup by then was filling the humble home of theirs. Soon the smell of baking bread added to the homey smell of the soup, causing Lisa's mouth to water in eager anticipation.

"Can't really remember all I said anyway," Broadway added as he started layering bread cubes in a shallow baking dish.  
"where did you get your groceries, anyway?" Lisa asked, eyeing the milk with sudden wariness.  
"Found it on patrol tonight."  
"Did you pay for this with cans too?"  
"No found it on some punks that were breaking into a grocery store."  
"They must have been pretty hungry!"  
"If they were, they have a funny way of eating. They threw another jug at a passing car before we got there to stop them. they had several bags of food, and it looked like they were going to toss them all into traffic!"  
"Then keeping them would make sense, as payment for maintaining order."  
"Yeah, that's what Goliath thought too."

Another chime got their attention. Lisa read the message out loud. "He said you talked about seeing magic first-hand. But that you didn't clarify."  
"Yup. And I won't either."

"I'll let him know you're busy with dinner preparations, and that I'm a nosy friend playing secretary."

"Okay."  
Another chime, half a minute later sounded, causing Lisa to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"What did he say to that?"  
"He said he would wait until a more opportune time. I never met anyone who sounded so much like Spock when he chatted."

"Didn't know you liked sci-fi."  
"Didn't know you knew what sci-fi was!"  
With Lexington as a brother? I learned fast enough."  
"Good to know."  
"Are you going to go geek with Lex?"  
"I said I liked sci-fi, but not enough to geek out on it."

"Speaking of Lex, I wonder where everyone is. It's not like any of them to be so late." Broadway said, with the start of a worried frown, now that the bread pudding had safely joined the rolls in the oven, and he had nothing more for his idle hands to do. "Everything will be ready soon, and if they are not here by then, it will start to get cold. And I'm starving!"  
"Hardly." came the dry, sarcastic voice of Brooklin as he walked in from the balcony with a protracted shiver, causing the other two to start, and stare at him. They didn't hear him land. he didn't seem to notice as he went to the stove and held his hands over it to warm. "Getting cold out there."  
"Winter is coming soon, you know."  
"If it's worse that the cold out there now, I don't want to know about it."

"Seen the others?"  
"Seen them? Seen nothing but them all night!" groused. Glancing at Lisa, he added with a charming little smile. "Good evening to you, by the way...or morning soon. Take your pick."  
"Good evening-night-morning to you too." Lisa nodded her head back with a playful smile of her own.

"Ran into Lex at the junkyard, by the way. He said he found some books he thought Goliath would like, but he can't carry all of them. Wondered if we could help move them tomorrow after patrol." He added with a glance at Broadway to silently include him in the conversation.

"I can pick them up if you want, and if they are not too buggy."

Broadway shuddered dramatically at that. "Nasty little things," he said to nobody in particular, as he opened the oven door to check on what was inside. "Guess you can tell him that it's taken care of then, Brook."  
"Tell him yourself, when he gets here. I'm no messenger boy no more for the rest of the night."  
"What do you mean?"

Brooklin frowned and started for the living area where Lisa sat. "When I first went out, Hudson told me to check in with Goliath in an hour and return to him in the park to let him know that everyone is okay. So I did, and Goliath sent me to find out about Lex to make sure he's alright before I reported to Hudson. And Lex told me to go back to Goliath about the books, Goliath sent me back to Lex with his answer, then check in with Hudson again. And Hudson sent me to check on you and see if you were starting supper. Brooklin sighed tiredly, as he flopped into a seat. He looked both cross and worn out. "And I am staying put," he added emphatically.

"Sounds rough. " Lisa sympathized heartily. "Sounds like you more than earned a rest."

Brooklin smiled thinly at that, leaned back in the chair with a care for his folded wings, and closed his eyes.

Five minutes passed in companionable silence, as Lisa typed away at a report she had to work on, and kept an eye on Broadway's friend base, Broadway focused on the last of supper, and Brooklin slipped into a semi-doze.

The red gargoyle was the first to notice the break in the stillness as he opened his eyes and turned to the sound of something landing at the balcony. But Lisa was not far behind. It was not a quiet landing, but rather a heavy one. Broadway didn't turn his head, but his awareness was evident in the way his ears perked, and the way his wings jerked before relaxing again.

In walked Hudson, with Bronx in tow. Letting him down, Hudson stretched. "Either I'm getting weaker. He told Bronx sternly. "Or you're getting heavier. If you don't lose some weight, then our outings are numbered and that's a fact."

Bronx only whined and wagged his stump of a tail. Then he paused, sniff the air. He gave a happy sort of bark and ran to greet Lisa.

"How was your outing? Did you manage to give Hutson a good walk?" Lisa laughed. Bronze painted and jumped on her, nearly knocking her over. Hudson grinned as he watched her scratch Bronx's head behind the ears where he liked best.  
"None of that, lass. Where is your respect for ones of our age and dignity?"  
"Taking a nap."

Hudson chuckled and walked over to his chair. He sniffed the air appreciatively as he settled in. "What are you cooking, lad?"  
"Split pea soup, rolls and salad"  
"Ugg, none of those leaves for me, lad. The rest sounds just fine."  
"Yeah, far be it for him to eat healthily or anything," Brooklin said softly, but clear enough for Lisa to hear.

"Eh? What was that?"  
"Nothing."  
Hudson peered at Brooklin with a suspicious expression on his weatherbeaten face, but Brooklyn was all innocence as he flipped through a book on motorcycles.

"When is Goliath and Lex due back?" Broadway asked as Lisa looked at Brooklin in a way that clearly said 'be nice.'

"Goliath came to tell me that he's going to be at the cloisters a while yet," Hudson said as he turned the t.v. on. The light from the screen played early over him. "Lex is not back yet? I was sure that he would have been. I thought Goliath said he wanted to head back because he found some techno stuff to start on a new computer." He eyed the laptop in front of Lisa, who had settled in front of it again. "Not that we don't have enough of the infernal devices.."  
"Oh, you know Les." Brooklin shrugged absently. "He probably found something shiny to distract himself."

"Well, all I know is I'm not holding supper anymore," Broadway announced. "Let's eat."


	6. In the Dumps, part one

Lex paused to consider a bundle of wires in his hand. Then with a shrug, he tossed it over a shoulder. His scrounging bag was already pretty close to full with a chaotic mix of circuitry and cookware, books and batteries. But he had a feeling that something special was here in this particular heap. He learned a long time to pay close attention to those feelings.

Sure enough, he soon pulled up a handful of computer chips that looked really promising Then, like a lucky coin, laid underneath the treasure of chips, was a book on computers. He was not sure if it had anything in it about computer building or not, and it did look rather worn, showing all the wear and tear damage expected from being in a dump for a long while, but Lex flipped through the pages with a hungry expression on his face. "This is great! I can't wait to show this to...well, to tell know about this find!"

He poked through the pile for a few more minutes, but the pack was now full to bursting, and it was time to go home.

He was about to start for one of the tall buildings to climb when the slight sound of scraping caught his attention. He warily followed the direction of the sound, hoping all the time that it was just a rat.

Well, it was not a rat. Lex stared at it from behind a pile of discarded television screens and the like, and stared some more, trying to figure out what it was that he was seeing.

It was a green color and carried a duffel bag like himself. Across its back was a stick that was a little longer than it was, and wrapped with strips of cloth in the middle. Why did it have a stick? And what was it that covered it's back anyway? It looked kind of like a shell. The whole creature looked like a giant turtle to Lex, one that somehow managed to walk around on its hind legs. Its feet was wrapped in cloth, as was its hands and its face had a mask over it of some kind of faded dirty purple color.

It was not idle. While Lex was making his silent observation, it was busy searching through a pile of what looked like old kitchen appliances. "There," it said, after a short while, as it turned an old battered box it had pulled out earlier about in its hands. "Good enough, I suppose. At least until Leo is done with it. Maybe I can do something to make it...well, more Leo resistant while I'm tinkering with it."

Leo? Is it talking about a family member? Or a clan member? Is it a gargoyle? Are there gargoyles in the world that look like wingless turtles? Lex took a step back, with half a mind to sneak off, and get someone to come back with him to see this thing, when his tail tapped a can without him being aware it was there, knocking down what sounded like a small avalanche of metal. He eeped and ducked behind the pile. Peeking hesitantly over the edge, he gasped. The creature had vanished without a sound.

"Wait, where did it go?" Lex wondered, looking around in the dark frantically. The dump was dark and dim, with deep pockets of shadow all around. Effective hiding places for most, unless that target was trying to hide from a gargoyle anyway. Lex spotted the strange being about a dozen feet away and started for it at a leaping, four-limbed gallop before he allowed himself to think about what he was doing.

The creature's eyes widened when it got its first glimpse of him. They widened, even more, when it seemed to have realized that it had been spotted and targeted somehow. It ran. Lex followed.

This went on for ten minutes. Twenty? It might have even been an hour. Lex was no longer sure. A couple of times, he lost the other, whose movements was far more silent than any gargoyle he ever heard of. Definitely more silent than a human! He would look around to try to catch him again, and every time, there was a flicker of movement out of the corner of Lex's eye, or a scent of something faint but damp and rank, and the chase was on again.

Finally, Lex lost him, and there was no sign of his prey. He walked between two high mountainous walls of trash, when something struck him in the back, driving him to the ground. He tried to get up, but the something turned out to be the creature himself, and he was heavy!

"What are you? Who are you?" The creature demanded, holding him down. "Why are you following me?"

Lex tried to throw him off, but whatever it was, it was definitely some kind of warrior and seemed prepared for that tactic. He also was at least twice as heavy as Lex was.

"Why are you spying on me?" The creature demanded, with a little shove of whatever it was that it was using to hold him down with.

"I wasn't spying! Get off!"

"Who are you?"

"My name is Lexington. I'm a gargoyle. What are you?"

"Why are you asking?"

"Well, you asked first."

"None of your concern, Gargoyle. Who are you working for?"

"Nobody! I keep telling you I was not spying on you! I ran into by accident! Now, get off! You're crushing me!"

"You seem fine to me." But the creature did shift, taking a fraction of his weight off Lex, who breathed a sigh of relief. Lex held still for a moment, wondering if the creature remembered his tail or not. And if he could manage to use it to knock him off his back somehow. But before he could attempt anything, or before the creature could start questioning him again, the sound of near-silent footsteps made both of them freeze. Both sets of heads jerked up in surprise.

"Friends of yours?"

"Hmm, doubtful."

"Why's that?" The creature kept his voice down in a way that Lex approved of, all things considered.

"To start with, most of my friends are bigger than me," Lex said wryly.

The creature fell silent for a moment. "I am going to check it out," he said at last. "Attack while my back is turned, and you won't like what happens to you."

"Truce then?" Lex offered hesitantly. "For the moment?"

There was a pause. Then a faint chuckle, as the creature moved away in a single graceful move. "Truce. Agreed."


	7. In the Dumps, Part Two

(I'm sorry about re-posting this, but I quickly realized the place I cut at was not the best to cut at. There is a change in the POV only a couple of hundred words later, and I thought that would be far too short a chapter to create on it's own. The next chapter will be up soon. I hope you like this second instalment of my New York Series!)

The being got up, then reach out a hand to held Lex up as well. Lex paused a second and stared at the hand before grabbing it and pulling himself up. The hand was so different from a human, and a gargoyle. Large, with three thick digits. He had to wonder how the thing managed to work with human-size things.

When Lex was on his feet, the being started climbing up the tall wall of trash with a nimbleness that belied his size. Lex quickly followed, taking care, this time, to be mindful of his the moment, curiosity overcame his fear. Besides, he didn't know who was out there, and here he had a temporary ally. This one agreed to a truce, and though he knew almost nothing about him, he was sure he was a warrior, and warriors keep their word. It was not outside the realm of possibility that he wouldn't turn on him, but Lex was willing to bet that the turtle creature would warn him that the truce was no longer in effect beforehand.

Lex heard him mutter a curse as a figure stepped into view. It was all in black and was quickly followed by another. And another. Lex gasped. "Those were the same that attacked Macbeth!"  
"Shh! Who the heck is Macbeth, anyway?" The creature hissed.

"Long story," Lex muttered, staring at the trio. They were obviously searching for something.

The creature tapped Lex's shoulder, and when Lex turned to look at him, jerked his thumb behind them, toward what looked like an old shed off in the distance. Lex nodded to show he understood. The two silently scaled back down to the ground and, still as they could manage, weaved between heaps and walls of trash toward a hoped-for safe hiding place.

Several times, they had to duck and let a band of the black-covered humans past. They were almost there. Lex practically had his clawed hand on the door, when a warrior turned the corner unexpectedly. He stopped as though surprised and stared. Both Lex and the creature stared back. Lex realized that the human, or so he guessed was human, was staring solely at him. The turtle he seemed to have expected to find him. But Lex's presence seemed to have thrown him. That moment was all the creature needed.

The turtle leaped into action. He, Lex realized with a start that he had started thinking of the creature exclusively as he for a while now, leapt into a flying kick, and hit the human on the chest. The one that followed was quickly felled by the staff that seemed to have leapt into his hands without Lex noticing it.

Then the fight became Lex's when he noticed two fighters trying to sneak behind the didn't seem to notice him at all. Lex remedied that. He screamed at them and charged, his eyes turning a blazing white. They stared at him much as the first one had, he almost wished they were not masked. He wanted to see their expression. They were almost embarrassingly easy to bring down because of that. One fell when he landed on them, the other fell a second later with a quick swipe of the tail.

Unfortunately, the sounds of battle alerted the others and soon, far sooner than lex liked, started swarming toward their location. Lex and the turtle eventually found themselves fighting back to back, just trying to hold their own, lest they be overwhelmed. It was clear that the turtle was still aiming to get to the shed. Lex was not so sure that that was a good idea. Better to fight in the open, than to allow yourself to get trapped, right? The fight kept going on and on. A single fighter was very easy to take down, but this was ridiculous. Where did all these fighters come from?  
Lex felt himself start to tire. He had no idea about the turtle, but he was not going to be able to fight much longer. They needed a miracle.

Then that miracle came.

With a screaming battle cry, Goliath landed, scattering the nearest of the warriors like chickens. He screamed again, at the one surrounding Lex and the turtle, causing them to pause in the fight to turn and stare at him. Some took one look at the new fighter and took off, clearly wishing to live to fight another day. Lex didn't blame them. An enraged, battle-ready Goliath, standing at his full height with claws at the ready, it was a pretty awe-inspiring sight.

The ones that didn't run away right away, were easily defeated between the three of them, though Lex noticed that the turtle took a minute to recover from the sight of Goliath as well. Lex only started relaxing, marginally, when the last of them fell with a well-timed blow.

He turned to thank Goliath and let him know what was going on when the situation went bad again. He was forcedly reminded of something. Goliath didn't know that the turtle was on their side. He did not know about the truce. He was in a battle rage. All he knew was a member of his clan was being attacked. Not good!

Goliath picked the turtle up by the shell and threw him against the shed. The turtle hit hard and slid to the ground, where he lay in an unconscious heap. An object rolled out of his now limp hand, and onto the ground. Lex didn't pay any attention to it, other than to mentally note the flashing light, but leapt between the fallen fighter and his leader, who was closing in fast. "Wait! Don't hurt him!"

Goliath growled, and moved as though he was going to push past Lex to get at the turtle, but lex jumped in front of him again, spreading his bat-like wings wide. "Goliath! He is an ally! We formed a truce!"

"He could have been working for them!" Goliath growled. "He could be trying to trap you!"

"I don't know about trapping, but those fighters attacked him on sight. They did not like him, and the feeling seemed to be mutual."  
Goliath made an impatient move, as thought to try to get past again, so Lex added in a rush. "I don't ask that we trust him. Just don't hurt him! He did try to protect me."

Goliath growled low in his throat but nodded tersely anyway. Lex let him by then, not that he had much choice. He turned, half-expecting the creature to have vanished in the meanwhile. But that was not the case.

The turtle was awake, but the way he held his head suggested that he wasn't a minute ago Goliath must have sensed that he was no threat at the moment. He didn't grab him by the throat or made any overtly threatening movements that he would have done otherwise. He only glowered down at the huddled form, who only just looked up. HIs eyes grew very round. He went very, very still.

"Who are you?" Goliath growled, crossing his arms with an expression that reminded Lex of the expression he would get when he or Broadway or Brooklin got in trouble. He started to feel a little sorry for the turtle.

"Donatello." The turtle said meekly.

"Donatello. Were you trying to hurt my clan member?"  
"What, him?" Donatello asked, pointing at Lex with a startled expression. "I never even met him before today!"

"What are you doing here?"  
"Scrounging."  
Lex had to give this Donatello character points for courage. There wasn't many who could meet that glower and not shrink back. He had looked down a few times but his voice was calm and steady enough.

"Are there more of you?"  
"Are there more of you?" The turtle echoed unexpectedly, with a sudden shift from nervous to shrewd.

"I will not be the one answering questions here. You will be."  
"I will answer if I can. But not that one."  
"Why not?" With a hint of a growl, as though reminding the turtle of who is in charge here.

"I won't risk my family's safety."  
The two stared at each other. Goliath's gaze was angry and determined. The turtle's was calculating and no less determined. It reminded him of one of his brothers, maybe Brooklin. It must have reminded Goliath of the same thing, for he seemed to relax. A little. "Very well then. What are you?"  
"Well…" Donatello's voice trailed off for a moment, as his expression took on a thoughtful expression. "That is kind of a tricky question. I'm not a hundred percent sure what exact breed we are. In fact, I am not even sure we are all of the same breed of turtle. But I suspect we might be an Ameri….."  
growled and slammed a fist into the shed wall over Don's head. Donatello swallowed whatever he was about to say with an audible gulp. "We are mutants!" He answered hastily.

At this point, Lex was feeling a lot more sorry for this Donatello person. He had a similar problem with rambling when he was nervous. He was also starting to get curious. What exactly was a mutant?

"What is a Mu-tant?" Goliath asked, echoing Lexington's exact thoughts, with a careful pronunciation of the word.

Don sighed. The look of crafty determination was earlier replaced by fear. And now the fear was slowly draining away, leaving only weary pain. His head must have been really hurting because he took a moment to rub at the side of it. "That...would take much too long to answer properly right now." He sighed. "I'm eighteen and I am only starting to really figure it out."  
Goliath's eyes widened, and he glanced quickly at Lex. But before he could say anything else, a new voice spoke up.  
"What are you doing with my brother?"

The two gargoyles looked up. Kneeling on the top of the shed was another turtle, his blue eyes glaring from behind an even bluer mask.  
"You better answer quickly." another spoke up quickly, this one standing on a nearby trash pile. He had a strange weapon in his hands. The mask on his face was orange. "And we better like the answer."  
"Or we'll prove just how fast the big fall down!" Growled a third from the other side of them, his weapons were like daggers, and at the ready, glaring green eyes behind a blood-red mask.

Lex belatedly realized that the small object the turtle had dropped had been flashing a red light of sorts. It must have alerted his family that he was in trouble. NOt a bad idea!

Goliath stepped away from the felled Donatello, who was finally making a move to try to get up. He swayed unsteadily but managed to get to his feet.

"He had not been harmed," Goliath said in his deep, rumbling voice. "I was merely making sure that he meant no harm in turn."  
"With what?" The one in orange spoke up, the light blue eyes widening noticeably behind his mask. "An elephant gun?"

"I'm leaning more toward a bozuca." The one in red added sarcastically.

"Will you use such things against me or my clan?" Goliath asked gravely, as he glanced at each in turn.

"Not if you don't touch my brother again." The one in blue answered just as gravely. He jumped down to stand beside Donatello. "Are you okay?" Lex heard him ask in a low voice, he probably didn't realize that a gargoyle's ears were very keen.  
"Well, yeah. I hit my head, but it's not much." Donitello answered, with a quick glance at Golioth. "It's not all what it…"  
"What did you do to my brother?" Leo broke in with a glare, as he jumped in front of his brother. Lex watched as Donitello covered his face with a hand with a groan. He dquickly hid a quick smile of sympathy. Over-protective clan members! Really!


	8. In the Dumps, Part Three

Goliath watched dispassionately as the one he perceived as the leader jumped down from the roof of the wooden structure he has been perched upon. Blue was of an average height, by gargoyle standards. Goliath was not sure enough to measure the being by human standards, since the few humans he saw up close was taller than the ones he known all his life previously. Goliath guessed that he was of a middling green, and his built was neither to muscular nor too lean. He had startlingly blue eyes under a dirty blue cloth mask. He had a shell, and many other features of a terrapin, as did the other three. He moved with the calm assurance of a seasoned warrior. Yet the timbre of his voice shown him to be little older than the trio.

Purple, the one who called himself Donatello, was taller, and very lean. His skin was a paler green. HIs cloth was purple, yet despite wearing the color of royalty, he lacked the air of command that his brother seemed to possess. He moved as a warrior as well, though with less assurance, with more calculation and hesitation. He seemed younger, though Goliath had no idea where that idea came from. This observation took less than a minute for the seasoned warrior to make, about the same amount of time it took for Blue to ask Donatello how he was, and get defensive over the answer.

"Many of his wounds came from before I got here." Goliath answered. "When I got here, and saw Lexington wounded and surrounded, I assumed that your brother was responsible." He paused and glanced at the others, who had moved closer, and how they were trying to surround himself and Lex. "I am hoping now that I am wrong."  
"What happened." Blue asked next, glancing at Donatello.

"I was scavaging and Lex…" He nodded toward the smaller gargoyle, who Goliath was glad to see was on full alert and ready for a possible confrontation, even as his wide eyes gleamed with curiosity over the beings around him. "He found me. I tried to get away, and he gave chase. And then…" As he talked, Goliath noticed him rub his head from now and then like a fretful hatchling in pain. He felt a twinge of regret for the wound he afflicted, though none at all for the reason for his action.

"How did he manage to keep track of you." Blue demanded, interrupting Purple with drawn ridges.  
"I was being stealthfully!" Donatello protested, suddenly sounding angry and defensive, the posture was equally defensive. There was something going on between these two, but Goliath cared not for the affairs of strangers. He had another matter to attend to. One much closer to the nest, as it were.

"Is this true? Did you chase him?" He asked with a pointed glare.

Lex didn't say anything, he only drooped and nodded. Goliath sighed. "Why?" He asked as a hand temporarily covered his face. He rubbed his eyes and waited for a reply, silently wishing that young ones would not always act so foolish...so very….young!

"He...he was talking to himself about some kind of gizmo, and I was curious." Lex said, as he stared at the ground, with a sheepish expression on his face. "I was, well, hoping he could tell me more. And...I guess I was wondering if he was, you know, another gargoyle at first. I guess."

Goliath stared at him but before he could speak, or even come up with what he was going to say in the first place, a voice behind him broke in his train of thoughts. "I swear, I was being stealthy! But I just could not shake him!"

"I am sure you were being as careful as you could be." Blue replied in a strained voice. "We have no idea what these beings are or what they are capable of."  
Goliath raised his eye ridges at that, and glanced at Lex, who met it with a helpless shrug. The two obviously forgot they were there, and that what he said could be taken as insulting.

"But this should make it clear what we been trying to tell you all this time! You need more practice."

"I understand." Goliath sighed, deciding to ignore the other two's bickering for the moment. "However, next time you see a strange being run away, only follow if someone else is with you. This could have ended up very differently from the way it we might never had found out what happened."

"I...I understand. I will." Lex said meekly.

"Don't you dare call me lazy!" The two gargoyles turned as one to face the two terrapins. The one called Donatello looked furious. Blue merely looked tired, sad and stern. "Don't you ever dare even hint that I am lazy!"  
"We will discuss this later, Donnie."  
"I am tired of talking about this."  
"Kids! Not in front of the strangers!" Orange sang out with a sappy expression on his freckled, lime-green face. Goliath didn't even know that turtles could freckle.

"Shut up, bonehead." Snapped Red.

"We still need to know what the events of the night were." Goliath added, hiding his growing startlement behind the stern expression he put back on. What was going on with these two? If they are brothers, then something was definitely going on under the surface. What was this about? And how is this going to affect his own clan?  
"Well, those warrior were everywhere." Lex filled in helpfully. "So Donatello and me...er, I, agreed to a temporary truce and tried to find cover in this shed here, but clearly, we didn't quite make it."  
"The foot?" At Donatello's nod, Blue frowned in thought. "What are they playing at? What could Karai want? I asked her before, what could she be working for, with Shredder out of the picture?"

"Well, your girlfriend said something was about to happen." Orange smirked.

Red smacked him on the back of the head, earning a howl of protest.

Goliath jerked back in surprise. They really were barely older than hatchlings! They act like the trio because they are as young and foolish!

"Yeah, well, to make a story short, the foot found us and attacked." Donatello summarized, picking the story thread up again.

"Like a swarm of Vikings." Lex added eagerly, causing Leo, who was looking at purple again like he was dying to say something. "And then Goliath came in and defeated them. Like a bolt of lightning."

"And did all these would on you both came from fighting the Foot?" Blue asked.  
Don nodded, then without warning, swayed on his feet and almost falling over. Blue caught him quickly, his expression quickly changing from annoyed to worried. "Are you okay?"  
Don nodded again, softer this time as though the motion caused him to hurt.

Goliath stared at the two, and made a mental note of how beat up the Terrapin looked. As beat up as Lex looked, in fact. And he found himself starting to believe the story they told. Then he noticed something else. "Dawn will approach soon." He said. Nodding toward Purple, he added in a kinder tone. "Thank you for helping Lexington."  
"He helped me too." Don responded, with a shrug and a bashful grin.

"I am Leonardo." Blue added, evidently coming to the same conclusion that Goliath did, that maybe the other could be trusted. "The one with the red bandana is Raphael, and the goofball in orange is Michoanglo. Thank you both for helping Don. But we have to leave as well. Don needs to be checked and we all need sleep."  
Goliath nodded, pleased to see at least one of them was prudent. So the two groups parted, much friendlier than either expected such an encounter to end. The only sour notes in the parting was the blood that shown against Donatello's scalp, and the death glare that this Raphael gave him when Goliath turned to face him. It was quickly hid, but Raphael need not have worried. It pleased Goliath rather than upset him. After all it is good and right for a clan to be protective of each other.


	9. We're Ready To Believe You!

Goliath and Lex got back to the watch tower with only minutes to spare. Indeed, it was clear that many of the others were getting really worried. Only Hutson, made wise by his many years of life seemed calm. But even he grew wary after seeing the state that Lex came in, and hearing the brief account of what happened in the junkyard. Goliath could see the questions in the old warrior's eyes, in the eager yet worried expression held in two of the trio's faces, and held up a hand to forestall any questions he felt was about to pour out around his ears. "We will answer all that you wish to know after we wake up. Now, it is time to sleep."

The six moved as one and were just settling on their chosen perches when the t.v. blared behind them, causing Hutson to turn to look at it in startled annoyance. "Blast forgot to turn the thing off." He grumbled, taking a step down to do just that. But before he could do more than that, light crept over the horizon, turning them all to stone.

Later, Lisa came to make sure all was in order. Noticing the t.v. on, she chuckled good-naturedly and moved to turn it off. Before she did, a commercial came on, causing her to freeze for a moment and watch it.

Three men stared back, with wooden expressions on their faces, and clips in their hands. She watched with sceptical amusement as each stepped forward and delivered a line even more wooden than their expressions.

"Are you troubled by strange noises in the middle of the night?"

"Do you experience feelings of dread in your basement or attic?"

"Have you or your family ever seen a spook, spectre or ghost?"

"If the answer is "yes," then don't wait another minute. Pick up the phone and call the professionals…"

Then all three spoke, at least one trying hard to sound excited about the name, and failing in a way that was really amusing.

"Ghostbusters."

The one that was trying continued in a fast, clipped manner and Lisa covered her mouth to stifle the laugh that bubbled out.

"Our courteous and efficient staff is on call 24 hours a day to serve all your supernatural elimination needs."

The trio was back, as they all seemed to have given up on trying for emotions anymore. Lisa suspected that the three men were just relieved that it was over. It was clear that they had no experience being on t.v. before.

"We're ready to believe you."

Only the last line did she feel was even remotely interesting, and the interest had nothing to do with the ad or the group who called themselves ghostbusters. She rolled her eyes and pressed the power button. Ready to believe her? She had half a mind to go down to those frauds and tell them exactly what her life was like now, friends with gargoyles. Would these men be ready to believe that? What is it about New York that draws all the weirdos to it?

Elsewhere in the city…

 **"** **We're ready to believe you!"**

The man watching t.v. smirked, and elbowed the guy beside him. "See, Logan, there are crazier people than you!"  
"Keep talking like that, ice boy, and you will be talking through the other side of your head." The other man, Logan, growled.

Bobby's eyes widened, and he turned his attention back to the screen with a muttered, "Touchie!"

 **"** **We're ready to believe you."**

Pale eyebrows rose over large, paler eyes, as a tall blond man paused to glance in one of the many offices that graced the main tower of his boss, Zanatos. "Are you watching television while on the job, Mary?" He asked in a severe tone.  
She looked up with an expression that was half awed, half annoyed. Good, she is starting to gain a spine. "It was from the break room." She said, pointing to the nearby alcove where a pair was presumably on break right now.  
"Hmm, very well then."

 **"** **We're ready to believe you."**

Mikey's eyes nearly popped out of his head, as he watched the whole ad. "No way, dude!"  
"No way dude, what," Leo asked, with a patient sort of sigh, as he walked past, on his way to the kitchen.

"These dudes on t.v. claimed that they are Ghost bashers or something, and they are going to totally believe anything!"  
"Right," Leo muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Do you think they will freak if we show up?" Mikey asked, leaning over on the back of the couch as he gleefully called over to the kitchen.

"Keep your voice down!"

"Oops, my bad. Forgot, Don-san is sleeping." Mikey grimaced.

"Why are you not sleeping?" Leo asked, as Mikey joined him in the kitchen, and grabbed a muffin. The kitchen was full to bursting with breakfast items that Mikey had made the long night before, while he watched Donnie. Leo looked around him in impressed horror. He had forgotten that Mikey liked to cook when he was stressed.

"I was going, but the commercial made me stop and watch it. Wow, that was really bad. But it was also really good. I never heard of a b-rated commercial before!"

Leo shook his head. "Sounds dodgy to me. Who ever heard of ghosts in New York. If they see us, they will do what most humans do, run screaming into the night. They are obviously con men. Ghosts.." He snorted and helped himself to sausage and eggs.

"Says the turtle that lives in the sewers of New York."  
"Go to bed, Mikey."

 **"** **We're ready to be.."**  
A tanto flew into the screen causing several black-clad boys to jump back. They turned to stare at the figure that threw it, with varying degrees of awe and impatience, the ones that were not masked anyway. The figure glared back, causing the most impertinent to lose the air of annoyance for fear. "Practice now! T.V. Later." He snapped, the light from the bald lightbulb above shining on his even balder head.

The small group hastened to run by, and the man glanced around once, nodded in satisfaction, and left as well.

 **"We're ready to believe you."** "Think he's ready to believe you, fish-face?" "Probably will believe me before he believes the flea circus you got in your fur, senyor."

"Nyet. Comrade, we should be keeping the eyes on this one." "Why is that, 'Comrade'?"

"I am knowing of the business. And this might be making of good business. Novelty is good at the making of the money. And they might be having some good technology, da?" There was a long pause after that last statement. Then Bradford and Xever looked at each other with nearly identical expressions of shock. "Is it just me, is is bacon boy making a good deal of sense," Bradford asked at last.

 **"** **We're ready to believe you."**

"And...cut."  
The director watched the three men as they slumped in obvious relief. "I think we should do another take."  
"Nah," Peter shrugged, with a cocky grin flashing on his face for a moment. "I think we killed it pretty epically that time."  
"The better we do, the more of a positive response can be expected." Egon reminded him calmly. Peter shook his head and thumped the blond curl at his forehead. "I don't think acting is your calling. Next time, let's hire those."  
"With what money?" Ray asked, with a wave at the weary director, who just shook his head and waved them away. "We have maybe enough for Chinese food in petty cash. Maybe. And that's it."  
"And that is why our first commercial patently stunk." Peter shrugged. "But I'm hoping it would be just weird enough to snag at least one customer."


	10. The Next Night

The next day, Goliath and Lex lost no time in filling in the rest of the clan on what had happened the night before. When they were finished, the silence was deafening. Long minutes passed. Lex fidgeted as the rest of the clan stared at him. Well, him and Goliath, but it felt like the rest were staring only at him. It was unnerving. As the silence continued to stretch out, he found his nerves being stretched along with it. Just when he thought he was going to snap, the silence3 was broken by the resident bigmouth of the trio. Good old Brooklin!

"So, you ran into a bunch of…ninsas, who was fighting a bunch of turtles who was fighting like ninsas?" Brooklin said slowly, as though deep in thought. "And Macbeth was offered some kind of job hunting these same turtles down? Only he….refused?" He glanced at the others and shrugged. "Did I miss anything?"  
"Nope. That about summed it up." Lex nodded. Then after a second's thought, he added. "Though you did get some of the particulars wrong. I forgot how you pronounce it, but I am pretty sure it's not ninsas. Still, I don't think the pronunciation of every single word needs to be right, but still it is pretty important to be precise. But still…"

"Okay! I get it, Mr. Obsessive." Brooklin growled, looking irritated.

"So which is the good guys in all this?" Broadway asked, "And which ones are the bad?"

"Well that one turtle did try to protect me." Lexington began, but Goliath shook his head.

"He might have been protecting you. Or he might have been working with them to get us to trust him. All we have right now is the word of beings we know nothing about."  
"He and his brothers could say the same about us." Lex sighed, crouching down. Looking up at each of them, he added "Neither sides have much reason to trust the other if you look at it from that way."  
"So your saying we don't know what is going on right now."  
"I am, Brooklin." And I attend to learn as much as I can. Before agreeing to trust anyone." Goliath said firmly.

"So what? This don't change anything, does it. We do the same thing we, well, been doing? Only we keep an eye on even more people?" Broadway asked, looking uncertain. "Like nothing changed from finding these, well, warriors?"

"We are certain they are warriors at least?" Hudson asked, frowning slightly. "Do you think they might have managed to trick you two into thinking they are trained warriors?"  
"After all the years of being trained by you, old friend?" Goliath asked with a slight, warm smile for his long-time friend and mentor. "How can I not know the difference, even though the style of the fighting is so different?"

"It does no harm to ask, lad. From the descriptions you two gave of their fighting style, well, the only thing I seen as similar was the ones fighting Macbeth. Only they sound better trained?"

"Maybe, um, ninsas fight differently from, well, Vikings and technowarriors and the like."  
"Broad, it's not ninsas. It's nin…wait, I had it a moment ago." Lex paused, with a scratch of his head, and an annoyed expression on his face.

"Had what a moment ago?"  
"Elisa! It is good to see you." Goliath said politely, as the rest of the clan turned to greet their human friend with various degrees of warmth.

"What are you guys talking about anyway?" She asked, smiling at the group as she walked toward them.

"We stumbled onto a strange band of warriors." Goliath told her quickly, his smile fading to a thoughtful frown. "A group of turtles. They acted like warriors of some kind of one I am not familiar with, and that troubles me."

Quickly, he filled her in on all the events of the night before, with considerable help from Lex.

Broadway drifted off to the kitchen to start breakfast while that went on. Brooklin drifted over to the laptop. Hudson stayed, however and listened to the tale once more, as he stroked his beard with a thoughtful air.

"So you want me to do some sniffing around to see if I can find anything about these turtle creatures?" Elisa asked when the tale was done, and she had a few moments to think.

"We would appreciate it if you would."

"Count on it. I doubt that the activities of four ninja turtles would go completely unnoticed."

"Is that how you say it?" Lex gloated. "See, Brook, Broad? I told you guys you were saying that word wrong, didn't I? I didn't exactly remember how it went, but I knew that ninsas had to be wrong. And I was right. See?"  
"Yeah, good going. Super geek." Brooklin broke in without looking up from the laptop screen. "Now. Ask if I happen to care."  
"Um…do you happen to care?"

"No. Not really."

"Geesh, you are really grump before breakfast."


	11. Author's Note

Greetings, readers. I just wanted to let you know that this story will be continued in both Shockwaves, which I will soon add, and Enter the Dream Walkers, which I already started. They will both be part of the New York Series. Enter The Dream Walkers is exclusively TMNT, though a gargoyle or x-man may make a cameo, and Shockwaves will be far more about the various characters living in or visiting New York. So, well, I won't go into detail about it. I just hope you enjoy it when I start posting.

Also, I feel I should take some time to explain the TMNT in my New York Series. In this world, I have been writing with the idea in mind that instead of each show and movie being a different dimension, they represent a different time in the turtle's growth. Let me explain. The 80's show is my idea of them as tweens, though modified heavily to fit the other shows timelines. For instance, they did not go above the surface. And yes, they did face a Shredder there, But I won't go too deeply into that, as that might give too much away. The Nick cartoons are the Turtle's proper teen years. Because I feel they best caught that age. The 2003 turtles are the turtles as young adults, and so on and so forth.

This is the proper genealogy for my Turtles so far.

1980s show

2012 Nick toons

TMNT-movie

2003

some elements in the original live action movie, but it will be mostly ignored. Not because it was bad or anything. Far from it! Only that it is mostly a repeat of themes that is already repeated in the others I decided on so far. The Micheal Bay Turtles also will be mostly ignored, mainly because I started my series before they were created, and I am too lazy to try to incorporate them now. Plus, well, I like them. But not enough to change my whole story arc to incorporate them. Also, the third life action movie and the next mutation did not happen. I might re-create a Venus de Milo, as I saw her as a great idea that was poorly executed. But no. They will not be part of my New York Series. Or anything I write ever, in the case of The Next Mutation or the one that I will never name or mention ever again. Stupid third movie.

So far My New York Series includes among my writing...

Consequences-complete

New Enemies, New allies-complete, well, I might add a couple more chapters. Not sure.

Childhood Journals-working progress

100 Themes Challenges-working progress

Enter the Dream Walkers-Work in progress

:: writtenComing soon::

Shockwaves

Journeys(working title)

Hope this boring note will give you more info as to where my somewhat twisted brain is going with this. I hope you enjoy what I have written so far. I would be more consistant in my posting. But I want to let everyone know that even on the long spaces where I am not active, I am still writing. I prefer to flesh out my work in notebooks first. Thouugh I will admit that new probles do crop up when I try to type waht I written to the computer. I type much faster than I write, but my dyslestic problems do tent to be stronger when I type as well. As a side note, any help in editting and such is great help! I may not always act on what you tell me. Mainly because I am both very busy and forgetful, but remind me enough and I will get to making the corrections, and thank you for helping to to oneday become a good writer. Thank you, everyone who been reading my stories and encouraging through your helpful and wonderful Reviews! Some of you in particular are awesome, and I will write a special shout out next time!


	12. The Start of a Crazy Day

(Author's note. This is going to me the last of this particular story. Sorry for the rather long author's note from before, but I been meaning to post an explanation of my New York Universe for as long as I was posting stories in it. So far, it has been rather slow going, and I am sorry. I really need to work out a better way to keep track of my notebooks. -_-#

I hope you enjoy my work so far! Let me know what you think if you are so inclined, and watch out for the next installment, Shockwaves! Expect a more balanced story arc from now on between the various fandoms. Though there will be side stories that focus only on one of them. Like my current one, Enter the Dream Walkers, which will be mostly turtles with some cameos from other groups)

March 4th, 8:01 am

"What were you thinking? Sneaking off like that?"

"Leo.."  
"What if you were killed? Captured? I told you that you were not ready yet. You're the one that let himself get the most out of shape of all of them! You need to get back into the shape you were before you can."

"Leo!"

"Before you can just go off like that."  
"Leo. Stop it!"

"No, I won't stop it. I don't understand why you disobeyed."  
"I needed parts."  
"For what?"  
"Oh, I don't know? Something? Everything?"

"Everything? So now you do everything for the family? What do you do that is so special? All you do is fix things."  
"I don't know, when have you ever fixed anything, Leo? What am I talking about? When was the last time you even picked up a screwdriver?!When was the last time you lifted your hand to anything other than training and making tea!"

"That is completely uncalled for!"

Raph and Mikey glanced at each other as the other two continued to bicker. Mikey shrugged. "I know. Surreal, right?"  
"Is it really like this when you guys watch Leo and me argue?" Raph asked, eye ridge raising slightly.

"Worse. Way worse" Mikey said, quietly, his smile fading slightly.

"Get off my back, Leo! Splinter needs the humidifier working, okay?"

"And that means you go off alone without telling anyone why again?" "I needed some time to myself!"  
"Er...maybe not so way worse after all…"

"Don't you go all Raph on me, Don. I don't know what's been going on with you lately, but I am over this."  
"Hey, Leo. I think you need to chill." Raph cut in.

"Don't start with me, Raph!"  
"Hey, just saying."  
"Don't"

Raph raised his hands, with the blandest expression on his face that he could manage. "No prob, bro. I'm chilled."  
"First time for everything."  
Raph's brows lowered, and his hands balled up before he managed to stop himself. "Leo, are you trying to make me mad or what?"  
"Hey, everybody! I have a perfect idea. Timeshare!"

"Time sha….you dork." Raph grinned.  
Donnie's expression softened to a fond smile as he glanced back at his little brother. Even Leo paused and glanced back at Mikey as though wondering what that was about. Then he sighed and shrugged tiredly. "Let's just get home."  
"Yes, sir." Mikey quipped. He hurried forward, and ducked under Donnie's arm, before slinging it over his shoulders. "Here, gotcha man."

"M fine," Donnie grumbled.

"Humor me, kay?"

"We need to get a move on. Splinter will wake up at any moment." Leo reminded everyone. "And we all need to sleep as soon as We get Donnie taken care of."

Silence fell over the group, as the brothers trudged through the sewer tunnel. Only the sound of their splashing footsteps, the more distant drips of water leaking from worn pipes, and the scampering and squeaking of mice and rats broke the silence that wrapped around each turtle. Both comforting and stifling to them.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city...

"You know what we need?"  
"No, Peter. I do not know what you believe we need. However, I am sure we all will hear sooner or later."

"We need to drum up business somehow." Peter continued, undeterred by Egon's pointed comment. "We need to get the ball rolling, so to speak."  
"It is true, we kind of hit a bit of a slump the last few weeks, but I think this is, as the common expression goes, the eye of the storm."  
"All the more reason to be proactive. What do you say, Ray?"  
"Gee, what do you have in mind?" a third of the four said, as he looked up from the paper he was avidly reading.

"Yeah, and you better not be talking about some girl hunting, disguised as ghostbuster work again." Added Winston, as he busied himself at the stove.

"You don't have to cook, I can." Egon cut in before Peter could react to Winston's comment.

"And I will keep saying no thanks. I rather have food I can actually eat. The only one of you three who can cook worth anything is Ray, and, well...there is only so much experimentation I can handle in the morning."

"Hey! You liked my stew." Ray protested.

"I did say you were the only one that can cook, and that was dinner. I am far more forgiving when it's dinner."  
"Yeah, he just likes what he likes in the morning," Peter added, with a shrug.

"You are certainly unusually alert this morning, Peter," Egon commented with a keen expression as he glanced at the brown-haired main. "Normally, you are not even awake by eight."

"That's because he hadn't gone to bed yet."  
"Ray!"  
"What?" Ray asked, looking up again with an innocent expression on his round face.

"Hmph. Forget I asked.' Egon sighed, he expression shifting to one of mild disapproval.

"Man, where do you get the energy?"  
"Hey if go got it, flaunt it." Peter grinned cockily.  
"And if you don't, fake it." Egon cut in acidly.  
"And I thought you weren't listening!" Peter turned teasingly to the blond.

Egon merely glanced heavenward as though asking for guidance, or patience, then buried himself in a book, not to emerge to the real world until a plate of eggs and toast was placed before him.

"So, you still hadn't told us what was on your mind," Winston said, glancing at Peter, as he continued to serve food before settling down himself. "Best just tell us before you lose more of your audience."

#########################################


End file.
